SASANIAN KINGS. Shapur I, 240-272. Drachm (Silver, 27 mm, 3.75 g, 3 h). Diademed and draped bust of Shapur I to right, wearing mural crown with a great korymbos on top and long earflaps; long beard with two rings and thick tufts of curly hair at the back; two ribbons rising from behind head. The legend along the dotted rim, running anticlockwise from 11 h to 1 h, reads ‘mzdysn bgy šhpwhry MRKAn MRKA ʾyrʾn MNW ctry MN yzdʾn’ = ‘mazdēsn bay Šābuhr šāhān šāh Ērān kē čihr az yaz(a)dān’ (‘The Mazda-worshipping Lord Shapur, King of Kings of the Iranians, whose essence is from the gods’ in Pahlavi). Rev. Zoroastrian fire altar flanked by two regal attendants wearing mural crowns and holding scepters; the symbol of ‘frawahr’ in the upper field to the left of the flames; to right and left, ‘NWRA ZY - šhpwhry’, i.e. ‘ādur ī Šābuhr’ (‘Fire of Shapur’ in Pahlavi). Göbl type I/1. Porous, otherwise, very fine.


The symbol of ‘frawahr’, the guardian spirit in Zoroastrianism, not only referred to the guardian spirit of kingship, but also was used as the emblem of the royal treasury.